Twilight Divided
by DisneyPotterPython
Summary: "When we moved to America, I knew, I just knew that something creepy was going to happen." So this is Isabella (Izzy) Stevens a 16 year old girl from England who was forced to move to America. When she arrives, she is hit... who am I kidding, this is basically Twilight with a slight twist.
1. Pity the Child

So this is Isabella (Izzy) Stevens a 16 year old girl from England who was forced to move to America. When she arrives, she is hit... who am I kidding, this is basically Twilight with a slight twist.

Disclaimer, I basically own nothing, since Twilight was written by Stephanie Meyer, Young Dracula is owned by the BBC, Fanfiction is owned by Fanfiction, England is owned by the Queen...

Rated T for language and some distressing implied scenes (rating may change to M if said distressing scenes are too distressing)

 **A/N Please note that I do not actually like Twilight, which means some information may be wrong. It is one of those stories that has so much potential to be good, but just isn't. Bella disgusts me, she is just a horrible person, and Edward is clearly someone that anyone with any sense would steer clear from. So, I made the decision to alter the story a little bit with my own OC rather than Edward, and cross it over with, in my opinion, a better vampire story. I hope you like it, and I hope I don't offend any Twilight fanatics too much by changing things up a little.**

When we moved to America, I knew, I just _knew_ that something creepy was going to happen. My suspicions were confirmed the moment school began, and I was met with this boy who was beyond disturbing. Edward Cullen, a boy who was the spitting image of everything I loathed, burning with arrogance and a self-importance I could hardly bare, and worse. But of course, this opinion of him was not immediate. It took me about a day to realise all of this.

I was living in a small house with just my parents, since my older brother and sister were both living by themselves. This move was dad's midlife crisis, and happened just before I was about to enter 6th form. So I got shoved into 11th grade, which meant my education level was about to rapidly decline. Apparently they do stuff in maths that we learnt when we were 13. Or so Olivia told me, but I can't be sure she is entirely believable.

Which brings me to my first day of school. I was suddenly glad of all the times I had been forced to watch "Mean Girls". I was instantly pulled this way and that by various groups of people. The sporty lot, the popular lot, the science lot. That was probably the biggest difference, everyone was friends because they all had something in common. In England, we were just friends with the people we thought were nice, and groups _integrated_. One day you'd hang out with one group, the next day another. It also helped if you could have a good moan together.

I do love a good moan!

For this reason, I kind of kept myself to myself. Thankfully, each group marked itself as liking one thing or another, so it was easy to distinguish one from the other. For example, the "Soccer" players all wore weird jackets like they were part of a jogging gang. The popular girls all had the same hair, which bounced off their heads as they walked.

At lunch I wasn't sure where to go. Another thing Mean Girls had taught me, was that the seating arrangement was ridiculously rule based. Each group had their own table that they sat at until they died, and anyone else who _dared_ sit there would be punished. So I stood awkwardly alone in the middle of the café too afraid to sit down in case I was in someone's spot. At our school, it was a race to the seats, meaning lots of groups had a few people sit down, while the others got food, then they'd swap so no one else could claim their territory. We were like animals.

"Hey." I didn't register that the "hey" was for me and continued to look round. "Heeeey! Girl in dress!" This time I looked at the girl addressing me.

"Yes?" I asked, clutching my tray like it was my only means for survival.

"Sit with us." She said, glancing towards a spare seat. I inched over and sat down slowly. "I'm Beth, that's Marty and Eva."

"Hi, I'm Izzy." I smiled at them all "thanks".

"No problem, you looked lost." Eva replied happily, before plopping more food in her mouth.

"Hey, you're English! You must be new right?" Marty asked, and I nodded. Here we go.

"What's England like?"

"Wet."

"Do you all sound like that?"

"Yes, and we all wear silly little hats on our days off."

"Do you all drink tea?"

"Do you all feel the need to stereotype so much?"

Oddly enough, none of those questions came up, and Marty simply said "Awh cool!" so I carried on eating my food. There was something about the way the hairs on the back of my neck prickled up that made me look to my right. I spotted a group of very very pale people. Now, I'm ghost white myself, but this was ridiculous. Were they not moving I might have thought they were dress makers dummies with wigs on.

"I take it you've spotted the Cullen's then?" Beth said.

"The who?" I asked, no band reference intended.

"The Cullen family. They're not even related, they just got fostered by this really young couple called Carlisle and Esme. They all date one another, apart from Edward. He's the slightly muscly one with a bit of a quiff." She sighed "he's so dreamy, but he refuses to date anyone. He's been single since they moved here 2 years ago."

I looked at Edward. I could see why she would think that, but he was just a bit… bland and cold for me. I prefer people who know how to smile, his face just made him look a bit… sly. I mean he had grate hair and everything, but it wasn't for me. "Oh right. Why won't he date anyone? Is he a-sexual?"

"No nothing like that. We're just not good enough for him." She looked sad.

"And he told you this?" I asked in disgust.

"Well he's not that direct, but it's certainly implied." Eva joined in.

"Just avoid them Izzy. They're far too up their own to be anything you should waste your time over." Marty fidgeted in his seat a bit and smiled. So that's exactly what I did, right after I shot them a pitying look. I really did feel immensely for them, the probably feel isolated from the world and unable to maintain a friendship with anyone outside themselves. I blame the parents, well adopted parents. They must have told them they weren't allowed to mix with other people. Religion maybe? Prestige? Perhaps they were afraid of us?

Whatever the reason, I swallowed and bit my lip, looking them all up and down in sympathy. I know what it's like to be shied away from the rest of the world, like the year I lived with my Catholic grandparents. I don't even think they were Catholic, they were just so evangelicalist and exclusivist I wasn't allowed friends outside of the church. It was horrible. Thankfully, mum and dad came back and rescued us eventually, but not after I had been traumatised for life and vowed never to do anything like that to my kids. This was the year they were both away serving as medics in Africa, trying to abolish measles.

While I was looking at them, Edward turned to face us. It was instant and sharp and made me jump a bit because of how robotic it looked. My eyes skilfully flicked to the window beside his head. He began muttering something to the others and they all looked at us, so I turned my head back to the others.

"What's it like outside? Do you get to go out there at lunch?" I took another bite of my food, and out of my peripheral vision, I saw the entire table of Cullen's were in deep discussion, one of the girls even reached across and held Edwards hand, almost in an attempt to comfort him.

"Not many people do. If you want to eat you eat in here." Eva replied. "Why, is it different in England?"

"Well, I'm not sure about all schools, but at my school you could take certain things outside, like sandwiches, or toasties and cakes. And the 6th formers had their own room they could eat and chat in away from the children. We would be in year 12, first year of 6th form. I don't know if it's still like that, I only went in there twice before I left." I explained, finishing my food.

"Oh my god! So, it was like, separate from the lower years? That's so cool!" Eva almost squealed. "What was it like in there?"

"Well there was a fridge, a microwave, a kettle, a sink and almost everyone had their own mug that they left in the cupboards. But it was filthy because some people couldn't be bothered to wash up after themselves. Then we had the sofa's that were really uncomfortable. Not every school is like that though, I mean our rival school's common room couldn't have been more different." I laughed when thinking about our rival school. I hated that place, the people there were just so… rude. "Most of us spent our free periods in the library though, the computers were better in there."

"Wow that sounds amazing! We've got to mention it to our head teacher, they'd love the idea!" Eva said happily. I just smiled at her, she seemed like so much fun already, and she was really optimistic. I could see friendships happening here.

"Wait, they trusted you with half a kitchen?" Marty asked.

"Yeah, and what's a free period?" Beth leaned over her now empty plate slightly.

"Well, I don't know about the half a kitchen cause I never really had the chance to use it, I was only there for the two days when we went along to see what it would be like, and everyone generally avoided the kitchen part. The free periods are something only 6th formers got. It was basically an hour without a lesson when you studied, but not much studying happens unless you're in the work room or the library. Nobody studied in the common room." I explained, and Beth stood up, taking her tray with her. We all followed.

"I wish we had those here. I'm so brain dead by the end of the day, I can't even think about which car's mine. Do you drive?" She asked. I laughed at this.

"No, I'm 16, you can't drive when you're 16." I said, and the three of them looked at me like I was mad. "What?"

"Yeah! You can drive. Maybe not in England, but you can here. You can have a go in mine if you like, I have a licence." Beth started looking exited.

"I can't, I don't have my provisional, I can't drive even with you helping me." I replied sadly.

"No worries, we'll wait for the car park to empty then you can have a go. Just getting to grips with the wheel and everything though, you don't have to go anywhere yet." She seemed to be really pleased with the idea, so I nodded happily. I looked back at the Cullen's as we left. I hope they are ok.

That's it! They must be models. Oh no that's awful. If they were adopted because of their looks, and then weren't allowed to mingle with anyone who is less than perfect. That's awful. All of my sympathy went towards them. They looked like models, they had near perfect features… perhaps a little too perfect for me but still. That's terrible. The blonde girl looked like something out of a painting, like the Greek or Italian Goddess. The black haired girl looked like a fairy, I could practically see the sparkles coming off her.

It was quite odd actually. I sent them a pitying smile as I left the room, and Edward looked back at me. This time I wasn't so quick to look away and I caught the expression on his face. Hatred. I left quickly, even more sure of my idea than before. I might have to re-watch Mean Girls, just to see if they cover the-family-who-won't-talk-to-anyone. I need to know how to approach them and make them realise, their parents are wrong to keep them separate from everyone else.

As I left, I suddenly realised something. None of them were eating anything, and their plates were still full.

 **A/N So how was that? Long? I know, sorry! I wanted to keep it short, but there was so much to put in. I promise next one will be shorter.**


	2. Giving a Little Bit More

**A/N I don't actually know how American schools work, so I went to Izzy's most beloved resource, Mean Girls, and this is the best I could do. Don't be afraid to tell me I'm wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if I was tbh**

The lesson after lunch was biology. Biology! I dropped biology at the end of year 11, I hated it. I was no good at remembering anything, and it bored me. The only experiments we seemed to do were when we were digesting food. The smell was enough to make me cry. It was horrible.

When I got in there the teacher pointed me to a seat, and I went there, looking back at Marty Eva and Beth, who were all behind me. It was like losing something essential to keeping you alive, because I was sure I would die without them. I had no idea what I would do. I got my things out and began to panic a bit. Brilliant, new school, new rules, and my only chances for understanding this place, behind me and a fair distance away. Perfect.

I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn't realise someone had sat down next to me, I was too busy searching my knowledge of Mean Girls for a solution to the problem. It wasn't helping! I looked to my side when I heard books thud on the table, and I saw Edward sitting there. Sugar. At the sound of the thud I had jumped out of my skin, which probably made me look like a complete fool. There was no way they would listen to me now.

Edward looked at me with a repulsive expression on his face, further confirming my idea. He loathes the fact that he has to sit beside someone less than perfect. Nevertheless, I was determined to show them all that they shouldn't try to keep away from people who aren't like them. "Hello" I said brightly "sorry about that, I was day dreaming. I'm Izzy." He looked at me in disgust, and pulled a face that made me think he might be trying to hold his breath.

"Edward. It's fine." he all but hissed the words. This was going to be a difficult afternoon. He was sat as far from me as the stool would allow him.

"Are these our seats for the rest of the year then? I know in English we were told we could choose where we sat." my tone was normal and hopefully inviting, but he still looked away from me when he answered my question.

"Hopefully not." This was going to be harder than I thought. I might have to be exceptionally nice to him until he cracks and starts being nice back. It works too, I've done it twice before and it's worked both times. One of them was a druggie in the year bellow who hated everyone. I got him to hold doors open for me by the end of the term, and he's not beat anyone up since then. If that's not a result, I don't know what is.

"I know, I'd much rather be at the back of the class." I replied, still smiling. "In fact, I'd stop doing biology all together if it was up to me."

"Wouldn't we all." He replied sarcastically. This was progress.

"Right everyone, shut up and we'll get on with the lesson." The teacher said loudly. Edward shuffled his chair further away from me. Maybe not progress then.

The exercise we were doing, because apparently they actually do practical work in America and not just learn from sheets, was cell based. More specifically, worm cells. It was not as bad as I expected, but I didn't really have much of a partner. Edward mainly watched from a distance while I cut it up, covering his mouth and nose with his hands. I think he's a bit squeamish, but I didn't say anything because if that's his deep dark secret, I don't want everyone to make fun of him for it.

Once I had the bit of worm under a microscope, I had a look. "That's so weird, there's so many of them." I said, more to myself than Edward because he was so far away. "Do you want a look?" I asked him, looking up at him. He kind of made to go forwards but rocked back again. Eventually he came over and I went back to my book to make notes on what I saw. Edward leaned over, sniffed a bit and pulled away from the microscope.

"No." He said simply, backing away from the microscope and me.

"That's ok, just copy my notes, no one will know the difference." I said sweetly "I won't tell anyone." We finished years ahead of everyone else, who all spent ages looking at their worms, so I tidied up and sat down with 10 minutes to spare. Edward was now at the end of the table in his bid to get away from me. I wonder what Cady would do? Oh forget Mean Girls! Mean Girls has no cure for this.

"Urgh, 10 minutes. I can't wait till the end of school." No response. "Beth's letting me have a go at driving her car. I'm like the only one here who can't drive. Do you have a car?" I tilted my head slightly to better see his face. He glanced up at me for a second.

"A Mercedes." He replied quietly.

"Wow… that's… expensive. I'd never be able to afford a Mercedes. Actually I doubt I'll be able to afford any kind of car. I don't have a job, so I don't have money." I sat in silence for a second thinking about the car I could have if I had a job. "You must have a job that pays well." I said.

"I don't work." I nearly kicked the table. You know, when you press your foot against the chair leg and it slips. Yeah, that happened. I heard him snort slightly, and I swear he smiled for a second. "I've never done a job in my life. My dad pays for everything, and most of what he has is inherited." So not a model then, but a rich boy.

Well that was pointless.

There's no point trying to make someone with money understand people without it, especially not if it's inherited. My uncle's fiancé inherited millions, and now she won't let them mingle with us because we're too poor for her. It would take something drastic for him to change his mind about us. "I see." I said. "My parents don't get paid that much. They were both medics in Africa for a while but now dad's retired. He got shell shock so can't work again." I explained. "So we moved here because dad wanted to be closer to his cousin."

Edward looked down at me over his nose. There was so much hatred coming from him, it was a bit scary. The bell rang and he was gone before I could do anything. Eva rushed over to me. "You had a conversation with him. No one has gotten that far before." She was so excited, I thought she might fall over.

"What? I can't believe that. He must have spoken to you." I replied.

"Nope. And when he does, he never tells anyone anything about himself. What did he tell you?" Marty asked.

"Well, only that he doesn't have a job, has an expensive car, and they're really rich." I didn't mention he was squeamish.

"Dang! We could have guessed all that anyway." Beth said. I didn't want to gossip about him, that would defeat the purpose of being nice, although I doubt it will work now anyway.

 **A/N It's shorter, as I promised :-) I hope you liked it! Oh and I forgot to mention before, the chapter titles are all songs, but the song itself doesn't relate to the chapter, just the title. This one is Giving a Little Bit More by ABBA, chapter 1 was Pity the Child from the musical Chess**


	3. Changes

**A/N Sorry, the wait was long, and seemingly endless, but we now have a third chapter. It's only taken me as many months. This one's a short one, but it is still one all the same. Its purpose really is to get that bit of the story out the way, and get Vlad in quickly, without missing anything from the book. I want my character to experience what Bella did, just to prove a bit of a point I suppose.**

"Here it is!" Beth threw her arms out towards a car, and spun round, arms still out, with a proud look on her face. "What do you think?" She asked.

"Well it's…" what's a nice word for wreck? "…lovely."

"Come on, get in. I want to show you how everything works." She opened the door.

"Ok, give me a minute, I've just got to go to the reception desk." Beth rounds on me so I quickly added "I was supposed to tell them about my day and if anything's bothering me." I suddenly remembered the meeting I had had this morning. Beth just nodded.

"I'll wait here." She replied and I hurried back inside. When I went over to the reception desk, Edward was in front of me. He was… asking to be moved to a different… _biology_ class! I edged closer to hear what he was saying better, becoming more and more furious by the moment.

"… can't I just switch class? It can't be that hard!" Edward was leaning on the desk, grinding his teeth together.

"Look Mr Cullen. We cannot just change which class you go to without a decent reason." The receptionist said. "What is so wrong with where you are currently situated?"

"The girl who's sitting next to me, I can't be near her." He rushed his speech, making it clear how impatience he was being. My mouth opened in disgust.

"What exactly has she done to upset you?" The receptionist sighed in a bored way. Edward's actions became more animalistic, almost feral.

"Well nothing, but I can't be near her." He banged the desk. "Why do you need a stupid reason, I just want to get away from her, is that so hard to do?" He growled. The receptionist's eyes widened. "Fine! I'll just have to endure it."

"I'm afraid if you're going to behave this way Mr Cullen, you had better leave." She looked back at her computer "we'll sort you out another day when you have calmed down." She began to type and did not look back at him. "Goodbye Mr Cullen, you know where the door is." Edward's hands were in a fist as he spun round, instantly noticing me. I did not try to hide my immediate hatred towards him, mouth still open with a repulsed, despising look on my face.

I hate him.

I felt like I had just been slapped and the footage put on social media. I wanted to cry so badly, I felt the tears in my eyes. I was so hurt, I'd have given anything to throw something at him. Why? When I had done nothing but be kind to him, and done my best to understand him. He treats me like this? And my mum wonders why I spend so much time in the virtual world. If people treat you badly in a game, you just block them. Simple as.

His expression wasn't much better. He looked at me like I was a bad smell, something to be disposed of. I closed my mouth and tried not to cry while he strode abruptly past me, creating a slight breeze as he went. I heard the doors open behind me and I felt the wind on my back, but I didn't turn round and look.

"Ah, Miss Stevens, first day alright?" The receptionist asked looking up at me.

"Yeah, fine thanks." I lied. The receptionist didn't look as though she believed me, but didn't try and go further into it either.

"Good, just remember if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask." I nodded and hurried out of the reception, holding back my tears.

"Hey, are you re… what's wrong?" Beth's face dropped when she saw me coming.

"Nothing, I'm fine… just give me a second." I reached the car and my breathing slowed.

"What did he do?" She asked as though she knew everything about the world. I just looked at her, stunned, still shaking a bit. "I saw Edward walk out of there looking like he wanted to murder someone. Not that there's anything particularly strange about that."

I started to try and speak, but no words came out, so I looked up and let out a laugh before bringing my hand to my face, covering my mouth. "Well…" I was still shaking a bit. "… he… asked to be moved away from me in Biology. He wouldn't give a reason, but it's just that he hates me so much, and I've tried so… so hard…" I sniffed "to make a good impression and be nice… he's just such a…"

"You don't need to finish the sentence, I know what you mean. When they first moved here, he was all I ever thought about. Then he just started being so horrible, and I eventually saw through him. You don't want to be liked by someone like him." She opened the car door. "Come on get in." I did as I was told and strapped myself in, even though I wasn't planning on going anywhere.

"Ok, now what?" I asked.

"The key's already in. Just turn it and we'll start." So I did and my lesson officially began. I'm probably braking several laws by doing this, but I don't plan on moving more than a few inches.

 **A/N The title for this chapter is Changes by David Bowie. Again, the song itself does not link with the story, I chose it for the title only, but it really is a good one to listen too. I think they all are.**


	4. Curiosity Leads to Trouble

**A/N Still no sign of Vlad, but we're getting there. Chapter 4 is here, and I would just like to thank a few people. Firstly, school, for giving me more work than I need. Secondly, my job for giving me both a social life and a reason to leave my house. Thirdly, myself for always starting new stories when I should really be working on the ones I'm already writing. Sorry guys!**

Edward didn't come to school for the rest of the week. It was fair to say I was relatively happy at first. I mean, given previous events, I doubt you can really blame me. I didn't want some pathetic, arrogant little boy ruining my first few weeks of school. Luckily, by the end of the first week, I'd actually forgotten he came here. I was too busy with Beth, Eva and Marty. They were amazing.

Marty is so lovely, and he understands everything. Eva is possibly the most optimistic person I've ever met. Beth is that brilliant combination of sarcastic, sassy and kind. I couldn't ask for better friends to settle in with. All I need now, is a better set of subjects to do. And come actual sun. Thanks weather, love you too!

Marty's trying his best to organise a trip to La Push beach when the weather gets better, and I said I would go. If the weather ever gets better, I'll probably spend all day every day at the beach. So far it's Beth, me and Marty because Eva's parents are weary of the La Push boys. They sound to me a bit like a thug gang the way Eva described them. They're all 6 foot something and fairly buff with matching tattoo's on their arms. Apparently the oldest, Sam, is the leader and the scariest one, followed by half a dozen or so sheep. If I remember correctly, one of them is a girl called Leanne… Lena… Leigh… something like that. The rest are boys. Seb, he's a little boy, Quince or something, possibly a guy called Jake, E… E something, like ember but not ember, Paul… or Pete, someone who sounds like Jay Rod, Bradley and Colin. I remember Colin because I made the joke "Is his surname Craven?" but nobody is fan enough of The Secret Garden to get it.

I'd love to just change the course of this story and write about them, but then the story would never end. And guys, I need my happily ever after here. So unfortunately, I'm going to have to skip to the part when I next see our main antagonist, and further confirm my hatred for him. Also, while we're on a bit of a break from the story, I'd better introduce you to his adoring siblings before it's too late.

Alice. Possibly the friendliest of the lot, is the only one who I have seen smile so far. And at me too! I am so honoured. She's the one who looks like a fairy crossed with Snow White. She's dating Jasper, who is probably always high. His eyes seem permanently locked in that position. If I was going to compare him to anyone, I think it would be a really blonde weedy Jack Sparrow. I can see him talking a bit like that, if he'd ever open his mouth anyway.

Then, pale Barbie, or Rosalie to some, floats in. She's like Fleur Delacour. Pure, delicate, but you can so tell she's got a "touch me and I'll drop kick you" side. She fascinates me, in a really odd way. She's dating Emmet, or in other words, the physical definition of a Brummie chav and future thug. The hairless cut, the tracksuit, and the big bone muscles that make normal people think you're a bit obsessed, and possibly on steroids.

I still think they are or were models. Why waste a face like that? Sorry, it's just, they fit every category, and don't seem to be too modest either. I still wouldn't date a model. They all look like they're saying "hey, I'm dark moody and sexy and don't know how to smile" rather than "hey, I'm possibly the kindest, happiest, funniest person on the planet, and I'm not arrogant or vain. I also come complete with the best smile." Unfortunately for me, Michael Palin's getting on a bit.

Moving on.

I was walking into biology one day, blissfully unaware of Edward's existence, when I saw him sitting in the spot beside my seat. Oh joy. I was not going to let him off that lightly, but you've got to be nice to people. But, just to show him that what he said was wrong, I'm only going to be half nice to him. Listen to me, I sound like I'm about 6 years old. I promise you, if I were 6, I'd be much more mature.

I smiled at him as I sat down, but it was one of those "I'll acknowledge you" smiles, and got my books out. He was staring at me. Had I not known he hated me, I'd have thought he was being creepy, but as it is…

"Hello." The sound baffled me a bit. Did I hear what I thought I heard? Did he say "hello" to me? What do you know, miracles to happen! I looked at him and was about to say "did you just say hello to _me_?" when I was reminded of a scene in a film I love. Labyrinth, when the worm says "'allo", then Sarah says "did you just say hello?" and it replies "no I said 'allo, but that's close enough", and inwardly snorted. Oh dear, the day hasn't even really started and I'm already giggling.

"Hi." I replied, with a look of disbelief on my face. I didn't realise I looked like this at first, and when I did I quickly smiled to cover it up, but I'd already probably scared him for life.

"I'm sorry about before, we didn't get off to a very good start." What is he on about? Oh I remember! He looked like he wanted to kill me. "I'm Edward Cullen. You're Izzy right? Am I remembering right?" I nodded but said nothing. "Is that short for Isabella?" Another nod, accompanied by an "mm hmm" sound. "Bella's a nice name. How come you didn't shorten it to Bella instead?" Ew! Bella, really?

"Because I just don't like it. I don't know why, but that name just brings up all these bad feelings, like I'd be horrible if I was called Bella." I replied, and he just nodded. I think nodding is kind of a nice way of saying "I heard you but I don't really know how to respond based on past experience with you."

"Ok right, onions!" The less than enthusiastic teacher said sarcastically. I turned to face him and Edward watched me. I reckon he's still just annoyed that he couldn't get away from me. "Let's see who can tell me what kind of mitosis it is." Oh dear…

"Ladies first" Edward said. How about no. I looked at the microscope for a second. I am so glad Edward wasn't here last week, otherwise I wouldn't have an excuse for what I am about to do.

"You do it. You weren't here all of last week, you could probably benefit more if you do it. Why weren't you here anyway?" I added onto the end in a moment of sudden burst of sound. Edward pulled the microscope closer to himself like protection. He was probably going to need it before I strike a nerve.

"I went away for personal reasons." He replied.

"But the others were here? Why just you?" I inched closer to him, interrogation mode on. "I'd have thought they would have wanted to go with you."

"I wanted to go alone. I went to British Columbia." Oh, so he's the Lumberjack of the family! Maybe he's not so "rugged" after all. Get it? You know, the song, where the Lumberjack sings about flower pressing and wearing a… um…

Anyway.

"Why?"

"Well, I went hunting." I started to cough. "It really helps with stress." I hope for his sake he's joking.

"What do you mean by hunting exactly?" Perhaps it's a club or something that plays video games and calls it hunting.

"The kind where you kill animals." He replied. I was just about ready to have one of my infamous debates with him, and I always win. I'm mean, it's ok if you're killing for food, but not for fun! Calm down Izzy! Don't think about controversial topics in the middle of a lesson, it will only end in tears. I just looked down at my paper and said nothing. "How are you liking the rain?" Edward asked me, as though murder for fun is absolutely fine. I could be sitting next to a budding young terrorist here.

"I've seen worse. I mean at home we literally had cats and dogs falling from the sky." Is what I would have said, were I not a coward. I would be so sarcastic if I wasn't so scared, but I'd be so unfunny.

"Why are you asking me about the weather?" I looked outside and then back at Edward and was finding it hard to see the difference. He's miserable enough for the both of us. When he didn't respond I sighed. "I'm used to it so it only mildly P's me off now. And anyway, it'll probably snow before too long."

"Why did you come here if you don't like the rain?" He looked at me like I should know better. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise I was so capable of supporting myself alone in England without my parents.

"Because I can't live alone?" I looked at him like he was mad.

"Oh." He turned away and we carried on with the lesson, not speaking to one another, and by the end, it was my turn to run from the room. I don't like the feeling I get when I'm around him, like something bad is going to happen.

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed the thing I made. The chapter title took me ages to come up with, and I eventually settled with "Curiosity Leads to Trouble" because it both fits** ** _and_** **foreshadows! O.o This time, it isn't a song, instead it's a piece of music from the 1951 film Alice in Wonderland. As a soundtrack geek, I own this soundtrack, and I don't mean I downloaded it, as in I have a CD. I actually have 20+ soundtracks, and my collection is still growing. I personally don't feel like I own something unless I have bought the hard copy. Downloaded stuff doesn't feel like it's really mine.**


	5. On and On and On

I avoided Edward until English, when I could avoid him no longer. As we filed in he caught me by the sleeve. "Can I ask you something?" I turned round and raised my eyebrows at him in a "get on with it" way. "What is your opinion of me?"

"Honestly? I don't really know myself." I replied "I've only known you for… well technically 2 days since you weren't even there for the rest of the time." I tried to turn back again but he pulled me back gently. I don't appreciate being dragged around by someone who, let's face it, is basically almost a stranger to me, no matter how gentle they are being. I ripped my sleeve out of his grip.

"You must think something about me." He almost begged. He's probably not used to having someone who doesn't worship his feet. I think I might be scaring him a little.

I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head "sorry, I really don't know what to say. I'll let you know when I make my mind up." Was I going to tell him how upset he made me the other day? Of course not!

"So if I came knocking on your door, what would you do?" He asked.

"Erm, answer it?" I looked at his now slightly annoyed face and noticed his eyes were kind of a gold colour. He's probably wearing contact lenses, but I won't say anything. I'm not one to judge like that.

"No, I mean how would you feel?" Well why didn't you ask that?

"A bit frustrated because you know where I live, confused as to why you were knocking on my door and peeved that my day was being interrupted." I shrugged again "why? Am I doing something wrong?"

"No. Ok, what if it was Dracula, and not me." He said, indicating the book I was holding, which reminded me, English was going to start soon.

"Answer the door and maybe ring the police if anything strange happened." Edward blinked at me "Put it this way, if Dracula turned up at my door, how will I know it's Dracula? He'd be just another stranger. I might be a bit more cautious if a grown man was stood at my door wearing a cape, but I still wouldn't think too much about it." I tried to go into the classroom again.

"What if he turned up in your room?" Edward's eyes were eager for an answer, so I sighed and turned back to him.

"I'd scream and run away." I said simply.

"Because he's a vampire?" Edward asked.

"No, because he's a strange old man in my room. I couldn't care less if he were a vampire or not, strange men I don't know are creepy anyway, and even if I knew he was a vampire, that wouldn't cross my mind because I'd be too freaked out to think about it. Happy?" I marched into the room before he had the chance to ask me anything else.

 **A/N I wrote this when I was 16, and I've only edited it a little bit, replaced a few things I wasn't happy with and such (and a few spelling mistakes). It's a tiny, but necessary chapter in this tale. I chose the ABBA song "On and On and On" because Edward is literally going on and on and on.**


	6. Pay Attention!

The end of the day could not have come soon enough! Beth offered me a lift home which I couldn't refuse. I was so glad I'd found them, Eva kept making jokes in English because apparently, when she thought of Dracula, the only image that crossed her mind was Marty when he was 13 dressed up like a vampire.

"He had this ridiculous plastic see through cape on!" She said through a fit of laughter. "And he slicked his hair back, but because he's so blonde, he looked bald." In a way, I wish I had been there. "He was like, a really un-scary cute vampire that would cry if he was left alone in the dark."

"I wasn't afraid of the dark." Marty laughed nervously.

"I never said you were, but you've just confirmed it." They made an amazing couple, it's almost a shame they're just friends.

We trundled out of English and I watched Eva and Marty head off towards Marty's car. "And then there were two." Beth said, watching them go. She looked at me and smiled sadly "and when you're gone, who's goanna be left for me?"

"What do you mean? I'm not about to get a boyfriend." I said.

"You could though. You ask any single man out, I'm almost certain he would say yes. Even Edward" She eyed me with her head tilted to one side and started walking to the car. I followed, glancing at Edward as I did. He was starting to walk over to us, so I looked back at her.

"Now I know you're just trying to make me feel better." She went round her side of the car and looked back at me as she opened the door.

"I wouldn't LOOK OUT!" She screamed, running backwards away from the car. I turned round and saw a truck heading straight for me, skidding on the ice.

"Oh my God!" I moved to run out of the way when I was suddenly pushed to the ground, my head hitting off the car. It all happened so quickly, I hardly had time to process it. At first, I thought the truck had hit me, then I realised that what had knocked me to the ground, had come from a different direction entirely. I looked behind me to see Edward Cullen, crouched half over me, with one hand against a dent in the truck, and the other hand round my waist.

I wriggled out of his grip "how… how…" Edward reached out to try and calm me down but I flinched away from him. "No, get off!" His eyes flashed and they looked almost… red... and his gaze travelled upwards towards my scalp. He stood up and left me without saying a word. I put my hand to my head and felt the wet blood slowly emerging from under my hair, and my hands began to shake. Suddenly the entire school seemed to be by my side, everyone speaking at once. God knows what half of them were actually saying though.

Beth ran round the car, pushed her way through the concerned mob and put her arms protectively around me. "Stop gawping and call 911. She was just hit by a car, come on people, give her some space to breath!"

"But I wasn't…" I said quietly.

"What?" Beth asked kindly, sitting me up.

"I wasn't hit by the car, it never touched me…" I touched the blood on my head again.

"Well… it could have hit my car, but my car isn't scratched. It doesn't matter anyway, you've got a nasty cut on your head." Beth got someone to phone my dad for me, and someone else to phone my mum.

"I'm fine, I can walk" I protested, trying to stand up, and succeeding before being pulled back down again. For a brief second, I looked over at the Cullen's, who were all looking at me from the safety of their car, like they wanted me dead, bar Edward, who looked like he wanted to die. I tried to stand up again.

But Beth was having none of it.

"What if you have concussion, or something serious has happened to your neck or spine. You can't walk anywhere," She continued to shoo people away.

"I can, I can…" I didn't even try to get up a third time. "Listen… its Edward, the car didn't hit me because Edward stopped it." Beth's eyes widened.

"Is someone calling 911?" She asked loudly.

"No no no, you don't understand, his eyes were red! Like a really really bright red." I was motioning to my own eyes as I spoke. I sounded mad, I looked mad, gripping at her arm and shaking. My own eyes became mad and wild, and my breathing was heavy. Beth looked scared, whether for me or of me I can't be sure.

"The ambulance is on its way." A boy said.

"Don't worry Izzy, you'll be alright." Beth tried to comfort me. "And can somebody please see if Toby is alright?" Poor Toby was watching from the driver's seat, utterly gobsmacked.

The ambulance arrived and I was whisked away to the hospital. No matter how many times I tried to explain what happened to Beth, she just said I'd be ok and to stop worrying. So in the end I stopped and just sat there, dripping in my own blood, waiting for some more strangers to come and tell me I'd be ok. Lovely.

 **A/N Chapter title this time is "Pay Attention" which is an instrumental used in the 1951 film Alice in Wonderland, you can hear it just before the song "In a World of my Own". I thought it fit the chapter quite well because no one is really playing any attention to what Izzy has to say are they?**


	7. Argument

I was set in the bed next to Toby, my neck brace clean off and I was able to sit up.

"I'm so sorry Izzy, this is all my fault." Toby looked awful, he had cuts all over his face and his right arm was in a sling until they could x-ray it. But he also looked awful because of how guilty he looked.

"It's fine, I'm fine. Are you ok though? You look worse off than me." Neither of our parents had come in by this point, and I was hoping his would come more than I wanted mine here. He needed them more than I did, he's probably traumatised.

"Yeah, I'll live. I'm so sorry though, I was going too fast and I didn't realise it was quite that icy. I could have killed you…" He looked like he was about to cry.

"Don't say that Toby, it wasn't your fault at all. It happens to the best of drivers when it gets icy." I smiled at him "anyway, Edward saved us both, he pushed me out of the way and stopped you from crashing."

"Edward? But I didn't see anyone else with you." Toby looked confused. Good God I hope I'm not going mad. I hope _he_ doesn't think I'm going mad.

"Neither did I until I was on the ground. Unless I dreamt it." I replied, just as the devil himself walked in. He strode over while I glared at him. He just chuckled and sat on Toby's bed.

"So, what's the verdict?" Ooh the cheek!

I said nothing, just looked at him with loathing then turning away and staring intently at a small spot on the floor. It was probably just a water streak, but it was more interesting than Edward.

"You're looking better Izzy." Oh would he just go away! I snapped my head back round.

"Well _I'm_ alright," I spat the words "but poor Toby here came off worse than I did, so I really don't think his bed is the best place to sit, do you?" Edward didn't move so I continued, trying to calm down a bit "Actually Edward, I've got something to a…" The door's opening cut me off and a doctor walked in. A very blond, very pale, very (I hate to use the term) good looking doctor.

Dr Carlisle Cullen was treating me, but I hadn't dared say anything about his son all afternoon. "Well the scan results don't show any breaks to the head neck or back, and you don't appear to have internal bleeding either. Once we stitch you up you're free to go." He smiled at me just as my parents burst in.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. Someone couldn't wait until they got into the delivery room to be born, so one of my girls just had a baby on the toilet floor. Blood everywhere, quite nasty actually. How is everything?" mum asked me. I don't know why she insists on telling us all the gory details about her job.

"Who are we suing?" My dad asked. The boy Toby in the bed beside me blushed, but I didn't say anything about him.

"Dad…" I said, shuffling so I could face them properly.

"How bad is it?" Mum asked, looking me up and down, and she looked like she wanted to reach out and start checking me herself, but she retained herself. I can't blame her really, it is her job.

"It's just my head, I just banged my head. I've been x-rayed and everything and I'm not clotting and nothing's broken." Mum smiled with relief.

"I hope you know that half the school is in the waiting rooms. They are all desperate to see you alive and well. Shall I inform them that you are, indeed, perfectly safe and they can stop crying?" I laughed. My dad kept a perfectly straight face as he said it though.

"I don't think that's necessary, she can tell them herself." Dr Cullen smiled at me. "You were very lucky." That was it, I had to mention something, especially now that Edward had slinked off Toby's bed and was heading quietly for the door. Dr Cullen started getting the equipment out he needed to stitch me up.

"Oh no, it wasn't luck. Edward actually pushed me out of the way." Dr Cullen's mouth twitched, and Edward hurried out of the room. I was determined to persist with this, because I knew I wasn't going crazy, and I wasn't about to let Edward go lightly.

"Really?" Dr Cullen watched his adopted son slink out of the room, "well, I'll have to talk to him about it later, but right now we need to stitch you up, would mom and dad mind waiting in the waiting room for you?" My parents left and Dr Cullen silently stitched me up. I didn't know what to say, he seemed to believe me and I didn't want to press further. So he let me go without saying another word about it.

Lo and behold, once outside, I ran into Edward, who was waiting just opposite the door. "I won't even ask you why you're lurking outside. Can I have a word?"

"Don't you want to let everyone know you're ok?" He asked me with a bored look on his face.

"Oh yes, but I also want to be sure I'm not lying to them, at least not without good reason." I raised my eyebrows as much as I could without it hurting.

"Come with me." He said in an aggressive tone. He didn't give me a chance to argue and strutted away. I followed haughtily until we came to a little corridor. "Well?" He rounded on me and I had to stop abruptly so I wouldn't crash into him.

"Can you please just explain to me what happened? I did not hit my head hard enough to imagine what happened, and I'm sure the huge dent on Toby's truck won't magically disappear." I crossed my arms and stared unblinking at him.

"You saw me coming over, I know you did because you looked at me. Well, I reached you just before the car hit you. There's you're answer to how I got there."

"And what about how you stopped the van?" I stepped closer to him to try and maintain dominance, but I was terrified he might pull something else on me.

"You did hit your head…" He tried again.

"Not that hard, and I'm not thick."

"Well then, you'd better just get used to being disappointed, because that is the only answer you're getting." He stared to walk away and turned round. "You should really just be thankful that you're ok. I could have left you to die." My God, how childish is this boy?

"Well why didn't you then, since you're clearly upset that I'm still alive." I said sarcastically.

"If you had the chance to save someone's life, would you?" I wasn't sure how to respond. "Because I would, and I wouldn't even hesitate." He slid off down the corridor and I was left dumbstruck. Outside it began to snow.

 **A/N Chapter title is "Argument", which is a song from the musical Chess. Fantastic song, do check it out!**


	8. I Dreamed a Dream

_I was stood in front of Beth's car when another vehicle came sliding towards me. Only this time I dropped to the ground and rolled under Beth's car, just as Edward stopped the truck from crashing. I looked out from under the car and I saw them, those red eyes flashing in the bright sunlight._

 _"_ _Who do you know whose eyes glow red?" Beth asked me, suddenly beside me under the car._

 _"_ _Hook." I said confidently. "I'm not mad!" I said to her. "I'm not I tell you! I'm not!"_

 _"_ _Don't worry, everything is going to be alright!"_

 _"_ _Why don't you say what you mean?" Edward asked me, standing beside me in the hospital._

 _"_ _Well… I mean what I say." I replied._

 _"_ _That's not the same thing at all. That's like saying I sleep when I breath is the same thing as I breath when I sleep." Edward's eyes flashed red again._

 _"_ _Yeah, I know that." I said._

 _"_ _Follow me" Edward led me up some stairs and through a door into my room "See Izzy, the choice is yours to make." Edward said, "do you want to grow up or not?" Peter and Jareth were standing at my window._

 _"_ _I don't know!" I said, looking from Jareth to Peter and back again._

 _"_ _It's this way if you want to grow up Izzy, fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." Jareth said enticingly._

 _"_ _No! Come to Neverland Izzy! We can go on adventures, and you'll never have to grow up! One girl is worth twenty boys." Peter took me by the hand._

 _"_ _I don't know what to choose!" I said._

 _"_ _Choose me Izzy!." Edward said, coming closer. I screamed and began to run through the labyrinth away from him. But the faster I ran, the slower I went. Edward and his army of playing cards were gaining on me._

 _"_ _You just need to run backwards, then you will reach your destination." The Red Queen was running alongside me. I took her hand and she ran with me. We stopped when we got back to school. "I have to leave you now. Good luck" She said._

 _"_ _Thank you!" I called out as she left. Suddenly, everything went dark and all I could see was Edward, standing at one end of a maze. He began to chase me, and slowly more and more people were following behind him. The maze itself was chasing me, closing up behind everyone else. My feet felt as though they were in tar. I could hardly pick them up._

 _"_ _Come on Izzy, you don't have to grow up yet." Peter said, taking my hand and flying out of the maze with me. I looked back to see that Edward and co were far below me. "Forget them Izzy, forget them all."_

 **A/N - Title today is "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. I did want to use "I Have a Dream" by ABBA, but I thought that might be more useful for a later chapter, and doesn't suit here quite as well as what I chose. Does it mean anything? Why am I referencing Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Labyrinth and Harry Potter? What's the significance of the maze and the window? It could mean anything, and nothing.**


	9. Bad Blood

Dreams make little sense at the best of times, but I saw mine as a warning from myself. Keep away from Edward. This shouldn't be too difficult.

I didn't speak about the accident to anyone unless they asked, and even then I didn't mention Edward at all. What would be the point? No one would believe me anyway. Beth, Eva and Marty were stunning. They were sympathetic when they had to be, and after the initial bucket load of questions, didn't mention the accident again. They knew I didn't really want to talk about it, but they didn't know that was because I didn't know what to say.

The only new edition since the accident, was Toby. I think he felt guilty, which is nice at first when you're out of money and want food, but when he won't let me pay him back…

I've tried to explain to him that he doesn't owe me anything, that accidents happen but he refuses to listen. He's only trying to be nice, but for his sake he needs to stop. I don't want him spending any more time or money on me. It's actually become a kind of game the four of us are playing. Beth, Marty, Eva and I all do our best to avoid Toby, making sure we're really early for lunch so he won't buy me food and that kind of thing.

Edward has reverted back to looking at me in disgust and sitting as far from me as humanly possible, especially in biology. Oh how he hates me in biology, pretending that I'm not there. We've not done a practical for a while, so he hasn't needed to look at me.

He was already there when I sat down just now, fixated with the back of the teachers bald head, possibly admiring himself in the shine. Until he acknowledges my existence, I'm not going to acknowledge his. You could have easily cut the tension between us with a knife, we were silent, looking anywhere but each other until the bell rang, and Edward was the first out the door. Eva came over to me as I was leaving.

"Marty's set a weekend for the beach, oh and, the Spring Dance is coming up so I'm thinking of asking Marty. Do you think I should." My face lit up.

"Oh my gosh yes! You two are perfect together." She smiled brightly at me.

"Thanks. I think Beth might ask Harry, they've been getting fairly close recently." I nodded, racking my brains trying to remember who Harry was. "Which leaves you. Who are you going to ask?" She quizzed when we reached the cue.

"I don't think I will, I'll just come by myself and dance with whoever." I said.

"You sure? You can stick by us all night if you like." Eva squeezed my hand, she could clearly see the look of self-pity I let slip onto my face. I smiled trying to mask it, but the damage was done.

In the next biology lesson we had, the lesson began as per, and I began to almost forget Edward was there. We weren't doing a practical, again, so this wasn't difficult, but the lesson was. What am I even doing trying with this class? I've got my qualification!

Actually, what am I doing in this year at all? I'm just repeating a year, I could legit just leave if I wanted.

Oh yeah… I want to go to university. Which means sitting through this for another year!

*cough cough*

Still, I think it was a bad idea to be doing biology again. Me and Olivia both had the same idea that there was no way we were going to be doing science, even though she got a B in it. Lucky girl.

*cough cough* "Izzy?"

I really miss Olivia. Of course I message her all the time over Facebook, but it's not the same. I mean, back home…

"Izzy? Isabella." I looked at Edward and raised my eyebrows. Oh, the devil has spoken! I must respond instantaneously!

"Mmhmm?" I sounded very bored and fed up with a hint of "get on with it". "Do you want something?" He kept a very straight, serious face, making it harder and harder for me not to start giggling.

"Listen, I'm going to sound really rude by saying this… but I think it's for the best." He paused… and paused… I felt as though this was some big instrumental in a song and I should really respond, but I didn't so he continued. "It would be better if we weren't friends." Oh wow.

Really? He was building up to that? I didn't need him to tell me that we shouldn't be friends. Does he really think I'd want to be his friend? Wow… just wow. That was possibly the biggest waste of energy ever. "Better if we weren't friends" indeed… By all means sir, go back to your little posy of white model siblings and never speak to me again, even though we established you're not actually a model.

"And this is new because?" I leaned over my table slightly.

"I don't know, I just thought it would be best to tell you." He said angrily. I half expected him to say "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition" but he didn't. Apparently I did though.

"You didn't expect the what?" He asked, and I had to laugh then. His face was priceless, a mix of fury and complete and utter lostness, if that is a word.

"You know, the Spanish Inquisition… It's a Monty Python… it's just funny ok." I turned back to my work. His eyes were still on the top of my head. "Please, stop looking at me like you want me dead, I get it, you regret saving me, but staring daggers at me isn't going to kill me either. You missed you're chance."

"You think I want you to die?" He asked, suddenly his voice was quieter, softer, and almost twice as annoying because it was begging for forgiveness and sympathy. Well it wasn't going to get any from me.

"Well I made a general assumption based on the looks you give me and lack thereof." I said.

"You're wrong." I leant back in my chair and put my pen down, crossing my arms. I turned my head to face him and glared at him.

"Oh really? Well what is it you want from me then? An apology? Thanks? Thank you for saving my life. You didn't need to, I was fine, I could have moved out of the way in time." The bell rang. "Goodbye Cullen." I said haughtily, before leaving the room in a strop.

"You wouldn't have saved yourself, trust me, there's no way you could have outrun that van." Edward called after me. "So I suggest you get your facts right before you say stuff like that."

Oh believe me Edward dear, I would if the person who had the facts would give them to me.

 **A/N I chose Bad Blood by Taylor Swift as my chapter title, because I was running out of ideas XD Trying to think "how would you describe this situation? And what song does it apply to?" And this one fit the bill better than the others I could think of.**


	10. One Man Band

Beth was giving me a lift home again that evening. Contrary to what she said about her car not having a scratch on it, it turned out that the van had indeed hit her car, and she'd had to have it sent to a garage to be fixed. Luckily it was ok now, only minor dents, but she didn't care. We were both alive and that's all that mattered.

When we got to her car a boy was standing beside it, someone I recognized as being in the year above.

"Hi Harry!" Beth said, unlocking her car and we all slid in. Oh, so that's Harry! Both she and Harry were beaming at one another, and I couldn't help but smile at how obvious it was they liked each other. As Beth turned the key, Toby began to walk towards us. "Get down Izzy." Beth said jokingly "or he might threaten to buy you cake."

"It's too late, he's seen me." I replied, pretending that I couldn't see him coming. "Just act like you don't know he's there and drive." But she couldn't go anywhere because Edward's car was blocking us. "Oh God." I said, hearing a tap on my window. I looked at Toby and wound it down.

"Hi." I smiled, hearing Beth trying to control her laughter in the front.

"Hey, I was just wondering. Do you have a partner for the Spring Dance?" He asked, looking like a begging puppy.

"No." I replied simply, trying to hurry up the situation. Edward was still blocking us.

"Do you think you might ask me?" He chirped, and Beth snorted.

"Well actually I…"

"She might be in England that week." Harry piped up from the front. "Weren't you telling Beth and I that you would be?" He looked at me with wide eyes, while Beth just laughed for America, her head now against the car wheel. God I love that boy! I don't even know him but if Beth doesn't marry him I am very willing to take him off her hands.

"Yes, my dad's actually got to go back to England for something and I might be going with him, you know, catch up with friends and that. It's not fully booked yet so…" Toby interrupted me.

"Don't worry about it, I'll just ask you to prom. See you later." He skipped away back to his car, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Harry! You may have actually saved my life." Beth looked back at me, still laughing. "You on the other hand… do you actually hate me?" I asked jokingly.

"Do you want me to drive Beth?" Harry asked, as Edward pulled away and we were clear to move.

"No no, I'm fine." She laughed. She began to drive and almost reversed back into a lamp post.

Harry drove me home. Beth had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, or so she appeared but I wasn't that easily fooled. She wanted to see if Harry was going to say anything to me about her. He didn't, and we sat mostly in silence.

When he pulled up outside my house he turned to look at me. "This is the right one isn't it?" He asked.

"Yeah. Hang on." I said, then mouthed "do you like her?" while pointing at Harry, then making a heart shape, then pointing at Beth. He went a bit pink and nodded. "Good." I mouthed smiling, and his face lit up, looking down at Beth. "Do you know where she lives?" I asked.

"Yeah, I should do, I live down the road from her." He replied. Aw! Neighbourly love! That's adorable and so meant to be!

"Alright then, I'll see you later." I hopped out the car.

"Bye" I walked to my house and opened the door, just as the car pulled away. Now Beth will have to ask him to the dance, because I hardly think she would turn down her own boyfriend.

Just as I was settling down in front of the TV when I got a text from Eva, simply saying "He said yes!" I smiled, and messaged her back telling her how wonderful I thought it was. After a while I got another message about Beth confirming what I pretty much already knew.

And then there was one…

 **A/N I chose the title "One Man Band" for this chapter, and if you've read it you'll know why. It's a track from the soundtrack to Mary Poppins (1964), and it's track 3 on the extended score.**


	11. Take a Chance on Me

It's Thursday, just a little over three weeks till the Spring Dance. I arrived at school and my phone buzzed. As I pulled it out of my bag, out too fell my house key. Before I could even consider picking it up, someone else did that for me.

"Thanks." I snapped, but I wasn't given the keys, instead Edward held onto them like he was taunting me.

"No comment on where I came from?" He quizzed.

"You wouldn't answer me even if I asked, so what's the point." I kept my tone relatively soft, gentle, sarcastic almost, "And why wouldn't you move last night?" I jumped up and grabbed the keys off his finger as he twirled them round.

"To let Toby have a chance to speak to you, that's all. Since you've been so cleverly avoiding him recently." He was smiling today, but it was a really sly, arrogant smile, as though he knows he's irritating me. "Poor Toby."

"Was there really any need? I mean, it's none of your business is it?" I tried to step round him, but he wouldn't let me. "Any chance you could stop harassing me, after all it was you who suggested we not be friends, not me."

"That doesn't mean I pretend you don't exist." He chuckled. Urgh! Either laugh or don't laugh, stop doing this ridiculous chuckling! I just shook my head and pushed past him. "Hold on!" He called after me.

"Would you kindly piss off!" He looked genuinely shocked, but I felt my neck begin to clench and my face flush with anger, I stood there a moment, just watching him process what I had just said.

"Are you angry with me?" He asked. "You're actually angry with me aren't you?"

"Yes, actually. You know, it might have been funny for you at first, but I'm getting really fed up with this, so just stop ok! On a serious note, I don't enjoy whatever it is you're doing, whatever it is you're doing that you find so hilarious it needs to stop, before I actually lose my temper." I looked back at him, a look of genuine shock on his face.

"Well I was about to ask you something." He said, as if that made all the difference in the world.

"Well why didn't you say?" I exclaimed sarcastically "I'm all ears."

"I was just wondering about the Spring Dance…" I hope for his sake he isn't about to ask me what I think he is.

"Don't tell me, you think I should go with Toby or with you?" I asked in disgust.

"No actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me into Seattle, since Toby already think's you'll be in England." He said.

"Are you suggesting I go into a strange, big city, by myself, with you?" I asked. "I'm sorry mate, did I mishear you in biology or something, because so far you seem to be doing nothing but try and be my friend."

"No, you heard me, but I didn't say I didn't want to be your friend." He sighed. And the mixed messages just keep on rolling in.

"Really? What _do_ you want Edward? Just tell me so we can stop all of this childish nonsense because it's exhausting."

"Well, it would be better if you weren't my friend. But Izzy, I'm tired of trying to stay away from you." Oh I could make it really easy for you if you wanted me to. "So, will you take a chance and come to Seattle?" He asked, once again begging.

"No. I'm going to the Spring Dance. I don't care what you, or Toby, or anyone else says. I'm going and I'm going alone." I walked away from him and he didn't say anything more.

 **A/N I chose Take a Chance on Me for this chapter title by ABBA because I had to, given the situation, I couldn't resist!**


	12. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

With lunch came events, unnecessary and unwanted events. I sat with Eva and Marty while we waited for Beth and Harry. We'll probably be waiting a while. "You do realise Edward is staring at you, and he's by himself today." Marty said. He had his arm round Eva's shoulder, and they looked so cute together.

I whipped my head round to face Edward, who was indeed alone and away from his family. The poor cheerleaders are going to have to find somewhere else to sit today. He motioned for me to come over. "Is he desperate or something?" I asked. "He won't leave me alone."

"Just go see what he wants." Eva egged me on "you can tell him to leave you alone when you get there then just come back." So I did.

"Hey." He said as I approached.

"You beckoned?" I asked, leaning over the table and looking down at him.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to join me."

"No." I turned round.

"Please Izzy. I've moved here specially."

"No, unless you have a burning question that must be answered, I will not sit down with you." I said.

"I have a burning question that needs to be answered." He replied, so I sat opposite him, thunder and lightning erupting out of my stare.

"What?" I snapped.

"This is different." He fiddled with the edge of the table. "Even your friends look angry." I looked back at them and Eva looked like she was ready to pounce on Edward if she needed to. Even Marty looked like he would probably tackle Edward to the floor if he tried anything.

"They just look out for me, friends do that. What was the question?"

"What if I don't give you back?" He smiled slyly.

"Then I'll kick you 'til you let me go." I put on a very obvious iambic pentameter when I said this, just to emphasise that he has no power over me.

"Well, I'm going to give up trying not to be your friend and just do what I want." He leant back in his chair.

"I thought that _was_ what you wanted. Anyway, I've not heard a question yet, so I am going to go back and..." I stood up.

"What are you thinking?" He asked me.

"I'm thinking you're getting on my nerves. Excuse me." I left and went back to Marty and Eva, who were now joined by a very flushed Beth and Harry.

"Everything ok?" Eva asked, flashing a glare at Edward.

"Yup, fine. His existence is starting to annoy me now though." I sat down, and a weight was lifted from my shoulders, as though they had been tense with anger the entire time.

Lunch ended and I had to walk past Edward to leave the canteen. "Hurry up or you'll miss class." He said, leaning back on his chair with his arms crossed.

"Don't tell me what to do when you're not even doing it yourself." I hissed at him.

"What? It's healthy to ditch class every now and then." Maybe it's just because we've got biology again. Either way, that's a stupid thing to say. What if one of the kids heard him? I was just about ready to slap his hypocritical little smirk off his face when Eva and Beth grabbed my arms and dragged me away.

"He's not worth it." Beth said. She escorted me away, keeping a tight grip on my arm. When we passed through reception on our way to the lesson, we were forced to stop and let a teacher deal with a fight, and the poor receptionist had to raise her voice to be heard over the din the pupils were making.

"Do you have a parent or guardian who could sign this?" She said loudly. I glanced back for a second, curiosity getting the better of me, and saw a boy talking to her. Unfortunately I couldn't hear his half of the conversation, so I looked back at the corridor, which was slowly moving again.

"And what's your dad's name? And is it just an allergy to the sun you have? Yes, we will need your dad's signature Mr C…" I was dragged away by a sea of people before I could hear any more. An allergy to the sun? That's not one I've heard of before, unless you count the gremlins that sit in darkened rooms playing computer games all day long, they're really lacking in vitamin D.

We got to the lesson safely, and the reason my jaw dropped slightly as our teacher started talking was because, for the first time in ages, we were doing a practical. Yay! I love a good practical.

Until it involves physically harming myself. Seriously, I'm sure there's a law against this kind of class in England, because we'd never be expected to prick ourselves with needles there. So much could go wrong. I get we're trying to analyse each other's blood, but really…

Regardless of this I soldiered on. Now I know why Edward's missing the lesson, he's squeamish. Probably a fainter, I know Olivia was. What was worse though was the demonstration our teacher gave of how to achieve the end result.

He grabbed Marty's hand and demonstrated how to properly prick the finger by stabbing Marty, then squeezing the pricked finger. This is child abuse, surely it must be. I was so disgusted by the lesson, I didn't realise I was pulling a face.

"Are you alright Izzy?" The teacher asked, and I shook off my look of disgust. I'm not squeamish, but the horrified face I must have pulled probably made me look paler than I am, and I was feeling a bit dizzy trying to contain my anger.

"Can I leave for a minute sir?" I asked. This was child abuse! I'll call child line, I will, mum makes me keep the number on my phone just in case I'm kidnapped or something, even though 999 would probably have been my best bet. Oh wait, this is America. I don't even know if there is a childine.

"Of course you can. Erm… Marty? Do you want to go with her and make sure she is ok?" He asked, but it was really more of a demand.

"Yeah sir." I was escorted out of the class room and outside into the fresh air where I could breath again. "You ok?" Marty asked. "Are you going to faint or something?"

"Nah. I'm fine, blood doesn't scare me, but I had to get out of there before I tackled the teacher to the floor. Are you ok?" I asked Marty and he rubbed his finger with his thumb.

"It'll heal." He shrugged. "Why do you want to tackle him to the floor?" He asked laughing.

"Because there's got to be a law somewhere against drawing blood from a student for the purposes of a high school science lesson. And he wasn't exactly gentle about it. Anything could happen though, you could prick yourself with the same… whatever he called it, L something, and then prick someone else by mistake. Do you know how many diseases are passed on that way?" I was fuming.

"Hey, I don't make the rules." Marty said, sitting down on the ground.

"I know, I'm sorry." I said, standing over him looking down. "I still think you shouldn't harm a child that way, not for the sake of a lesson."

"What's wrong? Why are you out here?" Oh for…

"We just had to leave the lesson for a bit. That's all." Marty said looking over my shoulder. I turned round to death glare Edward, who was standing ominously in the shade. As if his presence changed the weather, the sky instantly became overcast, and the sun all but vanished.

"Yeah, so can you please go back to whatever it is you do when you skip lessons so we can go back to ours." I said and Marty stood up.

"You look like you're about to faint." Edward said. "I'll take you to the nurse."

"No, I am not about to faint!" I said, but I was scooped up anyway by Edward. "Exactly what the Hell do you think you're doing!" I shrieked, struggling to get free.

"Taking you to the nurse. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Edward said.

"Put me down! Now! Put me down!" I shouted.

"Hey, put her down." Marty's hands balled into fists and I struggled, trying to get Edward's hands off me. He began to walk away and I began to panic and shake.

"Get off me!" I said, Marty hurrying along beside us.

"Just let her go." Edward stopped walking and I broke free. I moved quickly away from him, back towards the biology lesson.

"Go away." I said to Edward. He'd pushed it too far this time, and he knows it. The look on his face said more than he ever could as he nodded and walked away. I stood there with Marty until Edward disappeared around the corner, and suddenly I couldn't see, my eyes were glazing over and my cheeks were wet with tears. Marty must have noticed what I did a terrible job of hiding.

"Tell the school." Marty said. "Or someone else, just tell someone, because this is not ok!"

"I know." I sniffed, wiping my face with my sleeve. "I tried… tried to make him stop…"

"Come on" Marty put his arm around my shoulders and urged me towards the medical room.

"So, are you saying that, while trying to help you get to me, Edward picked you up?" The nurse asked, as though she didn't believe me. We had arrived at the medical room and I told this woman exactly what had happened, but she looked about as concerned as if I had said I got beaten up by a daisy.

"Yes. But I didn't want to be picked up, and he wouldn't put me down again." I said. I'd calmed down a bit by this point, no more tears.

"You're down now" The nurse pointed out.

"Yes, but… I don't think he would have if Marty hadn't have been there." I fought my corner, but she still wasn't satisfied.

"I think he's just trying to be helpful, and I really would stop worrying about him." The nurse stood up as if willing us to leave.

"But she doesn't want his help. At what point does it become harassment when someone doesn't leave you alone?" Marty argued, and the nurse just looked at him as though trying to telepathically tell him to shut up.

"He's got a point." A girl said from the other side of the room while holding an ice pack to her elbow. The nurse whipped her head round to face her.

"I will deal with this thank you Demi." She looked back at me and smiled a sickly fake smile that made me cringe. "I suggest you return to your lesson and just forget about Edward, and I'm sure it will all blow over eventually."

We stood up to leave and the nurse went back into her separate office to chat with the other nurse. She started talking about me, so I didn't move from the spot I was in, listening to what she had to say.

"Edward's a lovely student! If she really wanted him to leave her alone, I'm sure he would." I made towards the small office but Marty stopped me and moved me towards the exit.

"What a b…" Demi began, but before she could finish we were out the door.

When I walked out of that room, the frustration was… thick. It filled the air like mustard gas, and the urge to go back in and give that woman what for was unbelievable, but I didn't. I walked back to the lesson with Marty and sat in silence until the end. Nobody bothered me, I just sat alone writing facts in my book and drawing stars.

"If anyone asks, can you tell them what happened?" I had asked Marty on the way back. "I don't know how to explain it."

"Sure thing, you want me to tell them everything?" He asks.

"Yeah, just don't make it… exaggerated. I don't want people to think I'm overreacting to this…" I paused for a moment, readying myself for asking what I was about to ask. "Marty…"

"Yup?" He looked down at me.

"Did I do something wrong?" He looked shocked.

"No! You did everything right, none of this is your fault Izzy, none of it."

Lesson ended and I stood up, trying to motivate myself for PE next. Seriously though? PE?

Ok smile, show must go on, be happy, you'll feel better, don't let anyone know anything has upset you, keep 'em laughing as you go, cheer up ya old bugga c'mon give us a grin!

There ya go see!

 **A/N This is, in my opinion, one of the more sensitive chapters in this fanfiction, this is where it starts to get a bit darker. The title for this chapter is Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from Monty Python's Life of Brian because, well, it fits with the end don't it? And, despite hating him, I did want to give Edward a slight redeeming feature, in that he does actually care about Izzy, even if he does have a funny way of showing it!**


	13. Watch Out

I walked out of biology, smiling and feeling a lot better.

"You ok Izzy?" Eva asked.

"Yeah, Marty told us everything." Beth came out after Eva, putting her books into her bag which Harry was holding. You've gotta love that girl!

"I'm fine." I lied brightly, "just dreading P.E."

"You mean gym?" Beth asked.

"Same thing isn't it?" I made my excuses and ran off to the toilet, suddenly needing a moment alone. I looked at myself in the mirror and winced at the mess looking back at me. I don't really wear makeup, so you could see how red and blotchy my face was, with small pink eyes and runaway hair. I splashed my face with water and hoped for the best. Everyone would look like this after P.E. anyway. I left the toilets and the corridor was empty bar one very tall, very cold hearted villain, who was stood opposite the toilets. I hovered in the doorway, almost as though it was a protective barrier between us.

"Hurry up, or you're going to be late." He said.

"Please go away." I said

"Do you want me to get you out of it?" Edward asked and I glared up at him.

"What are you talking about Edward?" I asked, tired, weak, I needed a break from this, from him.

"You don't want to go to gym do you, so do you want me to help you skip it?"

"No." I replied shortly. I thought he had learnt, I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would all end because I'm running out of ideas.

"Really, because I could get you out of it very easily." I felt a surge of anger build up inside me, all I wanted was for him to just leave me alone! I opened my mouth, but I couldn't find the words to argue anymore. "Excuse me! Miss!" Edward called out to the nurse in front of us. This was not the one we had spoken to earlier. "Izzy's really not very well and she's been told she should go home, can she be excused from her next lesson? I think I might take her home." He asked politely and the nurse beamed at him, quite clearly he was a favourite student, the golden boy.

"Of course Edward, I'll excuse you both." She hurried away to the office.

"Wait, no, I'm fine, I don't need to go home." Edward took me by the arm but I tore myself away from him.

"You do look a bit pale, don't worry, Edward will take good care of you." She smiled, and watched as Edward pulled me away, face of a goldfish, to his car. I walked without thinking, I sat on the leather seat without thinking, sure that this must be a dream. This couldn't be happening could it? Edward put some classical music on as we left, but I was too scared and too shocked to even care.

He drove in silence, and it took me about ten minutes to realise I hadn't put my seatbelt on, so I did. I didn't know what else to do, and it simply didn't occur to me to take my phone out and call someone. If I was watching myself on a TV screen, I'd be shouting at myself to jump out the moving car or some other stupid thing that could break both my legs, but the 16 year old in the car could only think to sit tight and wait until the car stopped.

Outside the car it was raining, inside the car it was warm and dry, but the outside world and never looked more welcoming. "Do you like the music?" Edward asked me. In truth, I hadn't been listening, but I recognized it from somewhere.

"No." I said, staring dead ahead into the raid.

"It's Debussy, Clair de Lune, one of my favourites actually." Why was he telling me this? Is this supposed to make me feel better? He likes classical music so now I'm supposed to feel safe? "Do you know Debussy?"

"No." I'd heard the name, but I didn't care for it.

"Do you like any classical music?" He asked me.

"No." This was partly a lie, I like some classical music, I did do ballet back in England after all, and I'm a sucker for Sleeping Beauty. But Edward doesn't need to know this, and I don't particularly want to engage in conversation with him.

"What do you like?" This car ride would be so much easier in silence.

"Probably nothing you know." I said, hoping he would stop there.

"Like what?" I took a deep breath in to calm myself.

"Old stuff."

"How old are you Izzy?"

"16, I'll be 17 come April" I said, wondering why he was asking this.

"You are tiny, I wouldn't have guessed 16."

"I wasn't asking you to guess was I?" Edward stopped the car and I realised that I was home. "Wait, how did you… how do you know where I live?" I asked, opening the door and stepping out into the rain. Edward tapped his nose.

"Why, are you afraid of me?" He asked jokingly.

"I'd have thought that was obvious." I said, quite honestly, and his smile faded.

"I'm not going to hurt you Izzy. You know that don't you?" I didn't say anything, just closed the door and he wound the windows down, "Izzy listen, I'm a dangerous person to be around but I swear I would never hurt you. Just stay safe ok? I couldn't bare it if anything happened to you while I wasn't here."

"Where are you going? I mean… well… and more importantly, why do you care?" I asked.

"It's supposed to be sunny this weekend so I'm going away for a few days to enjoy it." He looked at me, looked into my eyes with such a piercing stare it was hard to remember to scowl. "And why do I care? How could I not care? Watch out for yourself Izzy." And with that he drove away, leaving me in the rain, doing my best to ignore the slight twinge in my heart. After all, even I'm not immune to that level of sappiness.

God I hate him so much!

 **A/N Yay! Finally reached chapter 6! Only taken 13 chapters to reach. This is a very difficult subject to touch upon, and I'm doing my best to tackle it as sensitively as possible. The chapter title is Watch Out, a song by ABBA, one I think you should listen to because it does actually somewhat relate to what's happening, if you twist the lyrics a little to imagine that that's how Edward views Izzy. I don't know, maybe, probably not, I'm probably joining more than a few wrong dots here to make the picture I want XD**


	14. Hungry Like the Wolf

Edward wasn't there Friday, and neither was the thug looking one… Emmet. Harry said he heard they were going camping. Well I hope Edward gets eaten by something, mum said there's all kinds of animals in these forests. I joke, of course… but seriously.

A younger pupil interrupted out English lesson that day to bring the teacher a note to read out. We're expecting a new student, a Vladimir Count from Wales. I was especially excited because, although I am far from patriotic, it'll be nice speaking to someone from Britain again who isn't mum or dad. I think it'll feel like a bit of a break, because I always seemed to find myself straining to understand what people here mean by their body language and tone, and some of the words they say. Less so now, I suppose I'm used to it. It's like translating a language you thought you knew, only to find out you don't.

"He'll be here on Monday, so please try and make him feel welcome. I spoke to him yesterday and he's a sweet kid. Laura, how many times have I told you to stop chewing?"

When Saturday arrived, I was exited out of my mind to say the least! Dad wasn't sure if I was ok or not. He kept asking me about the amount of money I had, and if I was taking a coat and if I thought I was well enough. I'll be honest, I was so full of energy, I was a bit short with him.

We all trundled down to the beach in Beth's car. It was growing on me that little car was, in spite of the weird noise it makes. We were met by half of our year, all desperate for that little patch of sunlight, and a wave of embarrassment swept over me. Everyone was in bikinis. It may be sunny but warm it is not. It's not exactly the height of summer.

"Unless I'm losing my vision, you've gone even paler, are you becoming transparent just for today?" Eva asked me.

"I'm wearing a swimsuit, everyone else is in a bikini." I confessed, but she just shrugged it off.

"So what? I am too, they'll be the ones who are cold." Marty looked at her confused.

"You told me you bought a spare bikini just in case it got warmer. And by the way, how would you change exactly?" Eva just made a face at him.

"There are portable toilets there Marty, keep up. And I probably won't, it's not that warm." She looked outside.

"Yeah it's only like 12 degrees." I chipped in and Eva laughed.

"It's not that cold Izzy. It's more like 50." I looked at her confused.

"You do mean Celsius don't you?" I asked.

"No Fahrenheit." She opened her mouth and clicked her fingers at me "Ohhh! You meant Celsius didn't you? We're here!" Beth parked the car and we all got out, and got hit by wind. Thank goodness I was in shorts rather than a skirt, like some people. "Uh oh! Marylyn Monroe!" Eva giggled, holding down her skirt as we walked down to the beach. There was, indeed, a portaloo on the rocks.

Since our host for the day, Mike, had now arrived, the party began. I call it a party, because what else do you call a gathering that includes music, a barbeque, and a heap of snacks? Marty and a bunch of others went off to make a driftwood fire, while Eva set up the portable barbeque. A load of girls were lying on mats sunbathing, while a load more were trying to teach the lads how to play beach volleyball. Everyone seemed to be dotted about everywhere.

"Izzy!" Beth shouted towards me from the rocks.

"Yeah?" I called up to her.

"We're going for a paddle. Wanna join?" She asked, and I didn't hesitate to run over to her. I get that it's dangerous to paddle near rocks, but it's awesome. We went over to some rock pools, and Beth lay down at ones edge, looking in.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"A starfish." She breathed. Harry nudged me and put a finger to his lips. I was so confused.

"Don't move Beth!" He said loudly to her, making her freeze. "There's a crab on your back. It's only little so you probably can't feel it." He looked at me and nodded.

"We'll try and get it off, just don't move." I said, looking at her completely bear of crabs back. Harry started forwards and placed his hand on her back lightly.

"Oh my god oh my god, I can feel it now! Hurry up!" Beth sounded terrified. Harry pulled his hand away, clasping his hands together.

"Ok, I've got it." Beth sat up and turned to face him, sitting in the sand. Harry held his hands together in front of her. "Do you want to see it?" He asked.

"No! Just let it go back in the sand" Beth said, but Harry started to open his hands up before pretending to throw the crab at Beth, making her scream even though there was nothing there. Beth threw a handful of sand at Harry's arm, and before I knew it I was third wheeling a snog fest, so very slowly started to back away.

"Ooooooh!" A voice came from behind me and I turned round to see a group of people who were all part of the over 6 foot club. One of them wolf whistled and started to laugh.

"Shut up Paul" a girl elbowed the laughing boy in the side.

"Hey." Beth said waving. "How are you?"

"Hey Beth. I'm great. Who's the new kid?" One of the very tall ones asked, gesturing towards me. Hang on a minute, kid?

"This is Izzy, she's been around a while now, I'm surprised you didn't notice her Jared!" Beth called out.

"Well hello Izzy. These are the guys. And Leah of course" The "guys" all said hi to me.

"My God, she is tiny!" One of the boys said.

"For god's sake Embry, can you not?" The girl hit him on the shoulder.

"But she's adorable." Another said. Great, all those beautiful girls had better watch out because guess what? I'm adorable and everyone is after me!

"Seth, sweetie, she's like twice your age." Beth laughed. "Do you want me to introduce you to everyone?" she asked me, gesturing towards the La Push lot.

"No wait, let me guess, the tall dark one is Jared." I said, making Beth laugh even more.

"Right." Jared said.

"Come on Izzy, we're going back to get food… Harry, where are you going?" Beth asked, and I turned to see Harry walking away from us.

"Food's that way right? Then that's the way I'm going." And he carried on walking away, leaving Beth a little open mouthed staring after him.

"Yeah, no that makes… erm… You guys can come too by the way. S'long as you don't get too close to Eva." She shouted over to the group, so we all hiked back round to the beach, where everyone was sitting round the fire and barbeque. We joined the others on the beach and I was handed a hotdog.

"It's Izzy isn't it?" One of the tall, dark haired boys asked me as he sat down beside me. "I did hear Beth right didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did." I smiled at him and moved over so he could fit. He towered over me, even when sitting.

"Sorry for asking, but how old are you _exactly_? I'm only 15 myself" He asked and I sighed.

"Yes, I'm 16, but I'll be 17 in April. What grade are you in then?" I placed my hands in my lap and waited while Marty struggled with the marshmallows and Eva had to help him.

"10th grade." He replied "I look older though." He added quickly smiling at me.

"And I look younger, even back home I looked young, to me everyone here looks older than they are, so I can't tell how old anyone is. You all look about 19." I looked round everyone.

"That's just Sam who's 19." Jacob said, indicating the leader of the group, who looked about 25, "the rest of us are all a younger." Jacob seemed eager, but for what I couldn't tell. "How's Forks growing on you?" He asked cheerily.

"I love it here, but I miss home too. Everyone's really lovely, well apart from Edward." Jacob sneered when I mentioned his name "I take it you don't like him either?" I asked, internally laughing at the expression on his face.

"Don't like them? Our families and their family have an age old loathing for one another. The whole thing is based on legends though." He stopped talking quickly.

"I can't speak for most of them, but Edward's a vile git. Doctor Cullen seems nice though, he had to treat me after his adopted angel tried to "rescue" me." I found myself telling Jacob most of the story, missing out minor details. When I was done, we were given a toasted marshmallow each by a glowing Eva.

"Well, I'm not really supposed to tell anyone this, but these legends date back to Noah's ark, when our grandfathers clung to trees to survive." He started, and I burst out laughing

"I'm sorry" I said between laughter "but that's just the funniest thing! Clinging to trees? So, for plot convenience, the flood that covered the entire world left a couple of tall trees uncovered for a bunch of people to cling to for near enough half a year! Even though the flood was specifically designed to wipe out all life but that on the ark. The whole idea of a single boat holding two of every species of animal is already farfetched! I mean, it's the moral that's important, not the historical accuracy."

"You know, there are actually other stories about a huge flood at that time." Jacob said.

"Maybe there was a flood, but I imagine it was highly exaggerated for dramatic effect…"

"Religion aside," Jacob interjected, before I got too carried away, "I think the point of that one is we're supposed to be a really old family. And our Fued with the likes of the Cullens is supposed to date back to then too. That's one legend anyway, the other is that we're descended from wolves and still possess their traits." I looked at him and frowned.

"I think Noah's Ark sounds more likely." I said, "but I still don't understand why you hate the Cullens so much. I think after a thousand or so years of conflict, perhaps it's time to forgive and forget."

"They are a part of what we call "the cold ones". An old enemy of the wolves that turn into men, that's what the legend says we are. Werewolves, which means there's a kind of law in our family not to hunt wolves. Anyway, the cold ones are not allowed on our land, they're too dangerous, which includes the Cullen's."

"Do they know this?" I asked him. "If they knew this, Edward might leave. Oh that'll be the day!" I smiled.

"Well, considering they are the ones the treaty was settled with when my grandfather was still alive, I think they know." A chill went down my back.

"Exactly how long ago was this "treaty" settled?" I asked.

"The 1930's." Jacob seemed to be enjoying this.

"So what do you mean by cold? Heartless?"

"No, I mean they are vampires." I frowned.

"Ah, see, you almost had me then but I think you need to re-write that legend of yours. Unfortunately, daylight doesn't seem to turn Edward to dust." I said.

"Oh I know it's just a load of old superstition and everything. The Cullen's only moved here a few years back, so of course it is, but my dad is a huge believer in all of that, so he hates them. I don't like them because I've seen them before, they always look at us like we're something disgusting." Jacob pulled a face.

"Oh I know that look, I get that every time Edward sees me." I replied a little too happily.

"Oh and, you can't tell anyone I told you. I wasn't supposed to say anything." He added.

"Of course I won't."

"Hey Izzy, we're goanna pack up now. You can stay if you want or Beth's offering to drive us all back… do you want to stay?" Marty asked coming over, glancing at Jacob.

"I'll come now." I said, "Do you want any help packing up?"

"You sure? That'd be great." Marty walked away and a wave of guilt came over me.

"Sorry, did you want me to stay with you?" I asked a downhearted Jacob "You can come and help me if you like." Please do not have upset this child! Please do not have upset this child!

"No, it's ok. I'd better leave before Eva's mom comes anyway." He stood up and towered over me. "Nice meeting you Izzy, I'll add you on Facebook or something." He said.

"Facebook, yeah. I'm called Isabella Stevens by the way."

"Jacob Black."

 **A/N The title of this unfortunately long chapter is Duran Duran's very own, Hungry Like the Wolf, because I thought it was funny… I apologise for my sense of humour XD If there are any mistakes, please let me know, I've been over and over this chapter but I keep finding more every time. I think I've got them all now though.**


	15. The Nightmare

_I am back in the Labyrinth, only this time I am with Jacob. He looked scared._

 _"_ _What's the matter?" I asked him but he just shook his head._

 _"_ _Run Izzy! Just go, run!" So I did. I ran through the forest from Snow White, the Disney film, and came to the Whopping Willow, where Jacob now stood in werewolf form, looking very like professor Lupin. I tried to remember what it was that Hermione said. Something along the lines of they forget who they are, and they would kill their best friend._

 _I walked quickly away from Jacob and reached another section of the forest with a path and Marty was on the path. "This way." He said, and I followed him down the path, but I soon lost him, and the path began to disappear._

 _"_ _No no no!" I shouted, but it was too late, and I was all alone. Or so I thought._

 _"_ _Hello Izzy." I looked up from crying to see Edward standing in black and red vampire clothes with the cloak with high collars, baring his teeth at me._

 _"_ _No!" I said "Not you!" Jacob appeared beside me and snarled at Edward. He then stood between us and looked at me with big brown eyes, as though to tell me he was protecting me._

 _"_ _I've told you once." Peter Pan was sat cross legged beside me._

 _"_ _No you haven't." I stood up._

 _"_ _Yes I have, I just told you."_

 _"_ _What?" But I didn't wait around for an answer, I turned around and walked away to my house, Edward right behind me ready to bite._

I woke up sweating and breathing heavily, Dracula lying on my bedside table. I picked it up and looked at the cover of Count Dracula, wearing the same black and red outfit as Edward had. Was I really that scared of him? Did Edward really frighten me so much I thought he was a vampire? I mean, Jacob almost felt human in that dream, but not Edward. Everything that followed behind him was dark and made me want to scream.

I got out of bed and switched my computer on. It was about half 5 in the morning, but there was no way I could get back to sleep without putting my mind at rest. I got onto Google and looked up "vampires Wikipedia". I know everyone says don't use it because anyone can edit it, but at least it isn't a vampire crazed club or anything. Too many Buffy fans these days, you never know what you were getting.

The first line reads: A **vampire** is a mythical being who subsists by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures.

Mythical. Thank goodness, see I was right all along. There's no such thing as vampires, ghost, werewolves, mermaids, fairies, big foot, or magic! The supernatural world can stay pretend a little bit longer, I really don't mind.

Apparently, the first mention of a "modern" vampire was in 1734, which of course they spelt as Vampyre. That kind of makes sense if you know what a Pyre is. I stopped reading there and looked up werewolves. Apparently this is a curse, and also mythological. I shut everything down and picked up Dracula again. Perhaps not the best book to be reading right now. Searching my bookshelves I finally landed on Peter Pan.

Well, there can be no way Edward is a vampire, but I'd probably be less scared of a vampire than I am of him. The guy struts around in the light of day with not a speck of dust on him, and he doesn't even wear a cape. He'd be a lot easier to handle if he was a vampire, just stand outside in the sun where he can't get to me. When I eventually fell back to seep I dreamt of the Jolly Roger sailing me away to Neverland. I was so happy, and I had not a care in the world.

 **A/N This chapter is titled The Nightmare, which is a track from the soundtrack to the film Anastasia.**


	16. Looking at Photo's

I woke up Sunday morning at around 6.30, and my brain had no intention of letting me sleep any longer. It was a Sunday, so most people in the town would be going to Church at some point. I imagine my mum will probably go, but I won't. It was hot under the duvet, but it was cold without it, and since there was no way I would be getting any more sleep, I begrudgingly picked up Dracula and headed downstairs wrapped in my duvet.

I switched the TV on and changed the channel to something meant for two year olds, just to kind of give me a bit of background noise while I had breakfast. Something was pulling me towards the outside world. It was hot in the house, so I abandoned my duvet on the sofa, and there was a mist hanging faintly over the grass outside, lit slightly by the sun that had yet to make an appearance. It looked almost magical.

I pulled on my dressing gown, my coat and my boots and went into the back garden, the back garden that led straight to the forest. I stood at its edge peering in. It was dark, dangerous almost, like it was omniscient and begging me to enter. So I did, well aware that, despite the note I left on the dining table, my mum would phone me panicked because I wasn't at home.

I trudged through the leaves, not wanting to go too deep just in case, but I managed to reach a point where I couldn't see anything of the town anymore. That was where I stopped and sat down on a tree stump at the side of the path I had just created with my feet. It was eerie, the mist swirling around the trees and being broken up by the taller of the ferns. And then there were the birds that were singing, but it is slow, as though they are too tired to make an effort right now. A grey rabbit hopped past me, and I watched it go. Werewolves, pah! Unfortunately such things don't exist, and I'm sorry to say this but, a rather large part of me wishes it was all true, and I could just walk into an enchanted forest at will and everything would be there from Medusa to Dobby.

Something moved. I turn around just in time to see leaves move behind me and I freeze. A bat emerges from the tree as I stand watching it fly closer and closer, it's dark eyes on me. A crack of thunder makes me jump and I run back to the house, away from the bat, just before the rain began.

Monday rolled around and I was walking to school because Beth's car had finally given up. I decided to try and get there early, so I could sit down for 5 minutes by myself and enjoy the little bit of sun we're actually having. When I got to school I saw that Eva had posted photo's from the beach on Facebook, so I had a sneaky look while I was waiting for everyone else to arrive. She was careful not to include any of the La Push lot just in case her mum saw. One of the photo's was of me, alone sitting down, my hair blowing round my face and my head tilted slightly. I moved on without thinking, but quickly looked back again.

On the rocks, above me head leaning against a tree so he was in the shadows, was a figure. I zoomed in as close as I could and just made out the face of Edward Cullen. But how? How was this possible? He was camping miles away, miles! Unless he came back early… then why hover creepily above us all? What a stupid thing to do!

I stood up, my eyes still on my phone, and took a step forwards before crashing into someone. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" I said, my hands flying to my mouth as the boy I ran into staggered back a little.

"It's alright, nothing's broken." He looked at me and smiled "almost had a bit of a cliché moment there didn't we? Thank goodness neither of us were carrying a stack of paper." His accent was… familiar…

"Are you… the new…"

"Yeah, I'm Vlad, I've just moved here from…"

"Wales?" I asked, remembering what we had been told on Friday.

"Well, yes and no, we left Stokley which is in Wales when I was 13 and moved to Liverpool." Vlad explained.

"Oh, we were all told you were coming from Wales." I said, really wanting to know more.

"Yeah, I may have accidently put the wrong place on the forum." I sat back down and Vlad joined me on the bench. "So when did you move here? I notice you don't have the local accent."

"Oh really, you noticed?" I laughed "Just before the school year started. We followed my dad's midlife crisis and ended up here. I don't know why here, but the place is slowly growing on me. Still, I'll never understand how dad managed to find the only place in America that shared our weather. Would have been nice to go to California or Florida, preferably close to a Disney park, but no."

"Really? We specifically chose Forks because of the weather. See, my dad and I have this rare genetic condition where…"

"Izzy!" I looked over Vlad's shoulder and saw Eva coming towards us, Marty in tow. "Izzy, I've got something to… oh hey." Eva said, now looking at Vlad.

"Hi, sorry, I'm Vlad. I'll leave and let you two…."

"Oh no, stay." Eva said, as Vlad made to leave, waving her hand at him to stay seated. "So, you've moved here from Wales then?" She asked.

"Liverpool" Vlad and I looked at each other, as we had both spoken at the same time.

"Why did you leave?" Eva asked him.

"Something to do with the schools headmistress." Vlad said quickly, "I can't really go into too much detail on that one." Well now my ears were all pricked up! What could have possibly happened with the schools headmistress that meant Vlad had to move thousands of miles away?

"Cool." Eva was almost a little too dismissive of what Vlad had to say, perching down beside me as Marty joined us. "Oh Marty, this is Vlad." She said, waving her hand in Vlad's general direction. Marty uncrossed his arms to wave at Vlad, and Vlad returned the gesture by nodding and waving back. It's so strange how boys can interact this way, I wish I could just hold my hand up and nod at people and have them know exactly what I meant. "I have something to show you." Eva pulled out her phone and began to flick through her photos.

"Oh, that reminds me, did you notice on the picture…"

"Edward? Yeah, we saw him." Eva glanced up at Marty who nodded. "But that's not even the worst of it, here look at this." Eva said, handing me her phone. I looked at the photo and it was similar to the one she had put on Facebook, only it wasn't cropped so Jacob was in it, leaning to the side to try and avoid being photographed. This time I was pulling a silly face with my hotdog, and Edward was once again above us in the trees, only this time he was in the sunlight, and the sun reflected off him in a really weird way, making him look like he was sparkling. It was eerie, almost ghostly.

Well, that's what happens when you're really pale.

"Who's that? The bloke in the trees." Vlad asked, leaning in closer.

"That's Edward Cullen, our resident creep. Unfortunately he's taken a shine to Izzy." Eva said, while I just analysed the photo. Vlad went very still.

"He should be camping, miles away, but…" I paused to find the words "why is he here?" I asked, knowing no one would know either way.

"I don't know Izzy." Eva said, taking her phone back from me.

"We think you should go to the cops." Marty chipped in.

"It's not that serious." I said, hoping I was right.

"This is getting dangerous Izzy." Marty said.

"You don't have to, obviously, but the option is there anyway." Eva took my hand in hers, as if to comfort me. A million things were going through my head at once.

"I'd rather not, I don't think it's serious enough to warrant that, and I don't want to start going into anything legal unless I really have to. I just… I just… wish he would leave me alone. I'm so sorry Vlad!" I turned to him, suddenly remembering that he had no idea what we were going on about, "your first day here and we've already managed to drag you into our drama."

"Don't be silly, it's important." The bell rang, and I suddenly noticed all the other students walking past. Had we been sitting there that long?

"Come on, we'll talk about it after class." Eva said, "what have you got first Vlad?"

"Erm… English." Vlad pulled out a large timetable.

"Same, we're doing Dracula at the moment." I said, as we all stood up and started walking towards our lessons. "Do you know it?"

"Yeah, I think I do, my dad's really into all that. I'm… not."

A/N Just wanted to get this out before I go on holiday for a few days. Well, kind of holiday, if doing auditions and checking out Uni accommodation, counts as a holiday XD The title of this chapter is Looking at Photos, a track from the film The Secret Garden, by Zbigniew Preisner which I thought fit quite nicely, since they spend the majority of the chapter looking at photo's XD


	17. You've Got a Friend in Me

We escorted Vlad to the English room, and I took my seat while Vlad hovered by the doorway, waiting for the teacher to arrive. She bounced in, she was that kind of crazy, and sat at her desk completely ignoring Vlad. I watched him shuffle over to her. She didn't look his way until he handed her a note.

"Toby" She said whilst reading the note.

"Yeah." Toby replied from the desk beside mine.

"Your desk doesn't normally get sunny does it?"

"No ma'am, why?" He responded confused.

"Well, you're going to have to move by the window. Everyone, this is Brad…"

"Vlad." Vlad corrected her.

"Oh, excuse me, I do apologise. This is Vlad. Now Vlad has an allergy to the sun, so we'd best keep him out of direct sunlight, so ya'll had better watch for that. We'll keep some of the curtains closed. Now you go sit down, the rest of you, you should all have read the next chapter by now, I want you to discuss the gothic elements. I'll find you a book Brad." The teacher said, bouncing over to a huge bookcase. Vlad didn't try to correct her again.

"That's it now." I said as he sat down beside me "you might as well just change your name, it'll be much easier. We're reading Wuthering Heights after the holidays, and she read us a taster chapter. Oh it was the funniest thing! She tried to put the accent on too, I was in tears!"

"Are we just doing Dracula and Wuthering Heights then?" Vlad asked.

"With her, yes, but we've got another teacher, Mr Brindon, dullest man on earth! We're doing To Kill a Mockingbird and Grapes of Wrath with him, he's our American literature teacher." I lowered my voice a little as the rest of the room began discussing the chapter.

"I've not read either of them" Vlad said.

"To Kill a Mockingbird's alright so far, I did Of Mice and Men for GCSE back home, and honestly, it's really really good." I looked back at the teacher to see her deep in a book of her own. "We should probably talk about the book before she actually starts paying attention to us."

"Of course." Vlad began flicking through the book in front of him. I watch him for a few seconds, clearly the boy has no idea what he's actually looking for.

"It's chapter 17" I say, and he quickly finds the page, "do you want me to tell you what's happened so far?" I ask.

"That would be brilliant." Vlad sighed heavily as though relieved at not having to figure it all out for himself. So I began reeling off a short plot summary for each chapter, about how Dracula had to come to England to find a new place to live, and how he managed to find a solicitor/ estate agent who happen to know to two beautiful young women. Dracula turns Lucy into a vampire…

"No he doesn't." I pause and look up at Vlad.

"What do you mean?"

"Lucy was always a vampire, wasn't she?" I shook my head "oh… I heard that her sister Magda…"

"Her sister?" I asked puzzled "she doesn't have a sister in this version, not as far as I know anyway. When Lucy was bitt…"

"Oh I am dreadfully sorry Brad!" The teachers sudden cry was enough to make half the room jump a little out their seats "I completely forgot, you've never read the book have you?"

"Not really."

"Well, while we talk about the chapter, why don't you run along and read the first few chapters in the library."

"Well, Izzy was helping me…" Vlad tried to explain.

"Yes yes, Izzy you did a grand job, but we're about to start talkin' 'bout the chapter we all read, so you run along and read a while hun." Vlad did as he was told and packed his things away.

"I'll come and find you in a bit." He said quietly to me and I smiled in a way that made me look like an overexcited child.

"Ok." I mouthed back. He beamed at me and left. I watched my new friend swiftly exit the room, the little dots in my head not quite yet joining up.

"Toby, stop playing with the blind cord! Now, who can tell me what a phonograph is?"

 **A/N I'm sorry. I could give my many excuses about why this is so late coming out, but I don't want to bore you with long stories about illness and work. Not that either is a valid excuse. Many people go through worse and still find time to update their fanfictions, I just prefer to wallow in self-pity haha! Chapter title is called "You've Got a Friend in Me", which I think really speaks for itself! Also, the English teacher's very _very_ based on a character from a Studio C sketch (Found here - watch?v=0A78ShqN7n0) I wrote most of her dialogue normally so it was still readable, but if you watch the sketch then re-read the teacher with that voice, that's how I picture her XD**


	18. Onward and Upward

Vlad was waiting outside for me at the end of the lesson. And I mean right outside, I turned the corner and my head almost collided with his chest, my nose a mere millimetre away. I stopped wide eyed and stepped back onto someone's foot. "I am so sorry!" I apologised loudly, as though trying to emphasize how sorry I was, because sorry alone was not enough.

"Don't be silly, it was my fault, I startled you." We begin to walk away from the lesson. "What have you got now?"

"Biology." I could not have been more unenthusiastic if I tried.

"Not your favourite I gather?"

"You don't understand how much I hate it! Where are you?"

"Same as you, biology." We shared a look of mutual suffering as we neared the classroom.

"How far did you get with Dracula?" I asked.

"Chapter 4, but I might have skimmed over a few lines…" I looked at Vlad who had the most guilty look on his face.

"I can't imagine it'll matter, I'm not entirely sure the whole class is awake during the lesson, so skimming a few lines shouldn't be an issue. Did you do anything else?"

"I ended up on the computer reading a bit more about this place actually. There's so many myths and legends, nothing quite like Robin Hood or King Arthur, but plenty to go around." I remembered what Jacob had told me, and knew I had to tread carefully here so I wouldn't say anything I'm not supposed to.

"What ones do you know?" I asked Vlad.

"I know that there are supposed to be wolves protecting the people who live here." We stopped outside the biology room. The teacher hadn't arrived yet, so we leant against the wall.

"Yeah, I know about the wolf thing. It's nonsense of course, but it would be cool if it were real." Vlad raised his eyebrows at me. "What?"

"Would you really want to live in a world full of monsters?" I had to think about this for a minute. I was almost going to say yes, almost. How exciting would it be if we shared our lives with witches and wizards and dragons and vampires! But at the same time, we would be under constant fear of them all.

"I think… I think I'd love it and hate it at the same time. Actually…" It took me a few seconds to realise I was looking at it in completely the wrong way!

"I know I'd much rather everything was normal." Vlad said.

"But that would be normal." I felt like I was having an epiphany. "We wouldn't know any different, we wouldn't be able to imagine the world without them! Take werewolves for example, if they were real, we'd be fundraising to find cures, we'd be taking psychology lessons on why they act the way they do. We might detain them once a month and treat them a bit like they had rabies or something, but we'd live alongside them not knowing any different. It's like… imagine we were having this conversation about… erm… cats!"

"I think I understand." Vlad said before I got too carried away in my own discovery, "but what if they were there, all around you, and you had no idea?"

"Then… we would be stood here, having this conversation absolutely none the wiser. But that would be impossible. How could a werewolf live its entire life without being found out by someone?" I call checkmate.

"You have a point." The teacher arrived and let us into the classroom. Vlad was placed in a corner, quite a way from me, and I waited with baited breath for my very own villain to come striding in. But he never did, and the seat beside me remained empty.

"Oh, didn't you know?" Eva said after the lesson when we were all sat outside during break, in the shade of course, "apparently all the Cullens are away now, even though Edward and Emmet came back from hunting, so no one knows where they are."

"Well that suits me just fine." I leant on the picnic table we were sat at, not minding that the warm rays of sun were miles away while we sat in the cold shadow of the school building. We didn't have to sit here, Beth wanted to go and sit on the school field in order to get some vitamin D while it was still available. And we very nearly did because Vlad said he had a way of protecting himself from the sun, which was fantastic… until he pulled this great, black parasol from him locker. The idea was dropped very quickly as we realised that Vlad's social acceptance was more important than a bit of sun.

"Aha!" Beth suddenly laughed, looking at something on her phone. I don't think she realised that she had the whole table and some random guy walking past looking at her.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked, and when Beth looked up she went pink seeing that all eyes were on her.

"One of the err, real housewives has moved state because she thinks she's being haunted by one of her recently deceased plastic surgeons." Eva snorted and Beth buried herself back in her phone. "Don't judge me Eva!"

"We're not judging you Beth" Vlad said.

"Although…" Eva received a whack on her arm from one of Beth's textbooks which had just discovered how to fly.

"She thinks she's being haunted by a plastic surgeon?" I asked, holding back my own laughter, "What does she think he's going to do? Give her another nose job?"

"Or just lop it off altogether" Harry suggested.

"You could say he cut off her nose to spite her face" Vlad said, and everyone was in hysterics.

Well, I was anyway. Vlad's joke didn't quite tickle everyone else the way it had me. In a split second I lost control of myself, and leant sideways onto Vlad while laughing. Had it been anyone else's shoulder, I would probably have stayed there, but I pulled myself away as though I had been burnt, still laughing to try and cover up my mistake.

We spent the rest of the break talking about ghosts, idiots and rich women, although not necessarily in that order, and sometimes all at once.

 **A/N Oh Izzy, you have no idea how wrong you can be, even when what you say makes perfect sense! Also, before you go crazy searching "real housewife haunted by surgeon", I made that up.  
A quick side note, tonight is the opening night of a musical (The Dreaming) I'm in at my local theatre. I've spent every week for the last 4 months rehearsing for it, so a lot of other things I'm doing have been put aside. I'm only an ensemble character, but I've put a lot into it. We close Saturday, so hopefully after that things might pick up again… until I go to Uni at least! XD Chapter title is "Onward and Upward" which is a track from the Disney film Frozen.**


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